Flaming Gorge Ice Fishing Report- 1/15/2013

[Ryno]

Much of the upper portion of the reservoir, down to the Pipeline, is now covered by ice. I could still see some big open water pockets in the main channel of Anvil Draw though, so anglers should take precaution when venturing out, especially at night. We fished near Holmes Crossing this night and found 9-inches of hard, clear ice. Much of the snow has blown off the ice too.

Lake trout pup fishing was good in the evening along main channel points in ~60 ft of water. They hit a variety of active jigs including: Northland Buckshots, Rapala Jigging Raps, and tube jigs all tipped with sucker meat.

Burbot fishing was also good in 10-40 ft of water using deadsticked presentations. The same gear as above worked but in glow colors. Yamamoto grubs in luminescent were also very productive. Most of the burbot were small, averaging 17-inches, and the biggest was 22-inches. I suspect the bigger burbot are staged somewhere getting their spawn on.

Hope it helps and good luck, Ryno
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[fish_fear_me2]

Great report, thanks for sharing the info
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[Charina]

Do you have a feel for what conditions the burbot spawn in at FG in order that we might try to target reproductive individuals before they spawn?
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[Ryno]

Based on my past experience working with and catching burbot in the Gorge, I think they are staging or spawning right now. Most of our fish we caught the other night were small so I expect many of the larger fish, especially females, are somewhere spawning. In the last few years of working the Burbot Bash, which is usually held the end of January, most of the big fish are spawned out.

With the tag recapture data we've collected over the last couple years, there seems to be a trend showing burbot moving towards and up into the inflows (Black's Fork and Green Rivers) during the spawning time frame. Some have moved several miles in just a few days. Utah State University researchers tagged 32 large burbot this year and are tracking their movement in the reservoir using radio telemetry and started tracking those fish this week. Hopefully the data they collect will provide biologists and anglers with a better idea of where burbot move to spawn including specific locations and the type of habitat they select.

I suspect you may find spawning locations further up the river arms. In general burbot spawn under the ice, in shallow water, in mass aggregations, with no nest preparation or care for eggs.

Hope that helps some, Ryno
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[kjpwyo]

almost all the burbot i weigh at the reeling for relay derby that we have held the 2nd week in feb. for 4 years now are already spawned out by that time
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